


Frightningale Fixates

by RockSunner



Series: Smart Adversaries AU [23]
Category: Miraculous Ladybug
Genre: Action/Adventure, Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Chat Noir Reveal, Drama, Episode: s02 Rossignoble | Frightningale, Evil!Nathalie, F/M, Identity Reveal, Immobility, Ladybug Reveal, Ladybug!Sabine, Romance, Transformation
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-07-04
Updated: 2018-07-09
Packaged: 2019-06-05 08:20:29
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,034
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15166553
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RockSunner/pseuds/RockSunner
Summary: What if Chloé took longer to look for a more complete revenge on Clara Nightingale?





	1. Masked

Mayor Bourgeois was in his office at City Hall. He showed his daughter a tall stack of paperwork that he and his staff had prepared.

"This will prevent her from making her video anywhere in France," he told Chloé.

"No, Daddy," said Chloé. "Clara Nightingale humiliated me. I trained hard for that part and I deserved it far more than clumsy Marinette. I don't want Nightingale just to lose the opportunity to make her video here. I want her kicked out of Paris. Better yet, arrested and deported from France."

"But precious, it took me a long time to find legal pretexts to get her permits invalidated," said Mayor Bourgeois. "I'll have to start over."

"I don't care," said Chloé. "Take the time to do it properly, or I'm calling Mama."

* * *

Clara Nightingale said:  
"One final task.  
Put on the mask."

Adrien and Marinette spoke in a nervous rush, simultaneously.

"Uh, I didn't see it. I looked everywhere in the dressing room for it but it was... " said Adrien.

"Uh, well, I...found the costume, but the mask was, um..." said Marinette.

"... nowhere to be found." said both in unison.

Clara laughed, and so did their friends in the audience. Marinette and Adrien nervously joined in.

Alya said to the friends around her, "They don't look a _thing_ like the real Ladybug and Cat Noir _now_!"

A stagehand came back from searching the dressing trailer. "It's okay! I found them!"

Clara handed the masks to the terrified performers.

"Go ahead, put them on, you two.  
We've got a lot of singing and dancing to do!"

Alix said, "Woohoo!"

Mylène said, "Come on!"

Everyone was waiting. Marinette and Adrien couldn't delay any longer. They reluctantly put on the masks of their Ladybug and Chat Noir costumes in front of everyone.

There was a collective gasp from the audience. People began to murmur.

"They look _exactly_ like them..." said Alya.

"It really is them!" said Rose.

"Ladybug! Chat Noir!" cried another onlooker.

The cry was taken up by everyone until the whole room was full of noise. Cameras flashed.

Clara Nightingale beamed and said,  
"Now I see who you really are:  
You're truly Ladybug and Chat Noir!  
It's such an honor you came this way  
To be in my video today!"

"No!" said Marinette, waving her hands desperately. "I'm not Ladybug. I may look a lot like her, but..."

"I'm not Chat Noir, either," said Adrien.

"However much you want to try it,  
There's just no way that you can deny it.  
It's time to show the people of France  
How well two superheroes can dance!"

Marinette and Adrien hung their heads, realizing how completely they had been caught. On the other hand, there was excitement building in each of them. Each finally knew who their partner was, and it was someone they knew and liked in regular life!

"Hold on a moment!" said the voice of Gabriel Agreste from the video tablet held by his assistant Nathalie. "I withdraw my son from this project. I don't accept the way he has been playing superhero without my knowledge and approval."

"I never wanted to be in this video in the first place," said Adrien. "I was worried about my identity getting exposed. You insisted, and now it's happened."

"I... I can't do this either," said Marinette. "I just wanted to be an extra with my friends. Then I was jealous of Chloé getting the part, so I stupidly jumped in. It's dangerous for everyone... Hawk Moth is sure to take advantage and do an akuma attack."

"Please, you two, you have to take part.  
You'll spoil the video and break my heart!"

"Spots on!"

"Claws out!"

The fake costumes were replaced with real ones, and the two heroes abruptly left by yo-yo and vaulting pole.

Clara Nightingale ran offstage into a side room and began to cry.

Chloé and her father entered with a tall stack of legal paperwork, but it was too late.

* * *

Hawk Moth opened up the irising window in his lair. "Ah... Tears of disenchantment. Such sweet music to my ears!"

He charged a butterfly.

"Fly away, my little akuma, and evilize her!"

While he was waiting for the butterfly to reach the Grand Palais, Hawk Moth pondered the power he would give her. It was not up to him entirely, since it depended on her wishes.

Clara would probably want to compel singing and dancing, turning Paris into a giant musical. That wasn't practical because someone would have to supply creative direction. It was one thing to turn people into knights or mummies that blindly followed orders, but creating choreography for an increasing number of people would require too much energy on Hawk Moth's part.

Instead, he would give her the power to inflict a passive punishment, a transformation for failing to keep her rules. That would leave each complying person supplying their own energy and creativity.

The punishment for not moving as required: to be locked in permanent stasis, conscious but immobile, and covered with a hard plastic shell. The victims would never move, eat, drink, sleep, or breathe again, nor would they need to. It would fine if that happened to Ladybug. Hawk Moth knew that an active Miraculous with a kwami inside is highly resistant to transformation. The earrings would be covered by the tough substance of the shell, but they could be chipped free enough to get a wish from them.

Hawk Moth decided he wouldn't free Ladybug or any other victim with a Miraculous Ladybug cure – let them stay fixated forever. He would wish Ladybug to be the recipient of his wife's vampire curse while she was immobilized in the shell. She would suffer for eternity, as he had promised himself.

Because of this plan, Hawk Moth could not allow Chat Noir to fall under the akuma victim's curse. His son must be protected.

Hawk Moth sensed the purple butterfly entering Clara's star-tipped microphone.

"Frightningale, I am Hawk Moth. So, they refused to sing and dance for you? With the power I'm giving you, the world will be nothing but song and dance! I only ask in return the Ladybug Miraculous, her earrings. But not Chat Noir. Don't touch him with your magic."

Clara said suspiciously:  
"Why are you telling me who to spare?  
Could he be someone for whom you care?"

Hawk Moth persuaded her in rhyme:  
"Obey my orders and you'll go far.  
I myself will deal with Chat Noir.  
You'll change the world if you obey.  
If not, I'll take your powers away."

"All right, Hawk Moth, I agree,  
Now you must give the power to me!"

Purple clouds of magic covered her, dispersing to reveal the harlequin-like Frightningale.


	2. Family Feelings

Ladybug and Chat Noir stopped to talk on the roof of a building a few blocks away from the audition.

"Our lives are ruined!" said Ladybug. "What are we going to do?"

"I don't know," said Chat Noir.

"Our families are at risk!" said Ladybug.

"I know..." said Chat Noir. "I'm not that close with my father, but I don't want anything to happen to him."

"We could quit," said Ladybug.

"What? Let Hawk Moth win?" asked Chat.

"We both know the Guardian of the Miraculouses now," said Ladybug. "We could give them back, and let someone else take the powers. People whose identities aren't compromised."

"I hate to do that. I love the freedom of leaping around the rooftops with you," said Chat.

"We don't have that kind of freedom anymore," said Ladybug. "Our lives have been turned upside-down. Why did we have to get involved with this stupid video?"

"My father forced me into it. But why did you volunteer to take the Ladybug part?"

"I was jealous of Chloe getting to spend all that time with you."

"You were jealous? But that means..."

"Yes! I had a huge crush on you, Adrien. You never saw it. That was why I was so tongue-tied around you."

"I wish I had realized. I had a crush on you as Ladybug from the first day we fought together. Now we can get to know each other as we really are."

"Too late – it's all a mess now. With our identities exposed there's no way we can date. Even after I retire as Ladybug, I'll have to leave town with my parents to hide from the paparazzi."

"It's not that bad. I've been a celebrity for ages. You'll get used to dealing with the press."

"This will be so hard on my parents. I've got to go to my them, talk to them... Oh no! I left my civilian clothes and my purse back in the dressing trailer. I've got to go back there, return the costume, and get everything."

"I did the same thing. All right, we'll just go in quickly, get our things, and leave again."

* * *

People were still crowded in the audition room. Chloé and her father were calling for Clara Nightingale to come out so they could serve their large stack of legal papers on her.

Nathalie was waiting by the dressing trailer. She had the tablet and Gabriel was on the Spype connection. (He had switched back from Hawk Moth temporarily),

"Son, I'm sorry for what I said before," said Gabriel. "I'm actually proud of you. You're a hero who has saved Paris over and over. I was upset that you were sneaking out and lying, but I understand why you had to do it. Now that I know I'll support you any way I can."

"This is a surprise... I'm glad to hear you say that, Father," said Chat.

"I'd like to help Marinette and her parents, too. They can stay at the mansion until things settle down. We have excellent security and shelter from the press."

"Thank you for the kind offer, but no," said Ladybug. "It just concentrates the targets for Hawk Moth in one place. Your mansion isn't safe from him. Remember how Simon Says got to you in spite of all your security systems?"

Gabriel would have continued the persuasion, but there was an interruption.

* * *

Frightningale leaped up onto a catwalk above the stage. She whipped down with the long end of her microphone cord, striking Chloé and Mayor. A pink glow formed around both of them.

"Sing, dance or rhyme,  
Or you'll be frozen in no time!"

Chloé said, "What is she talking about? Dancing and making rhymes? And why not play the trumpet too, while you're at it—"

She stopped abruptly as she was encased by the pink shell of the Frightningale curse.

"Chloé, hon'!" said Mayor Bourgeois.

Frightningale gave an evil cackle, expecting the Mayor to be frozen.

Mayor Bourgeois clasped his hands in supplication and said:  
"Please! Please! I'll keep up this rhyme,  
Don't make me freeze, not this time!"

Frightningale said,  
"Oh, bravo!  
And you've got the right tempo!"

Frightningale whipped more of the extras near her. Most didn't get the instructions. They tried to run and got immobilized.

Ladybug and Chat Noir went into action. They charged Frightningale, who ran outside and leapt to the top of the Grand Palais.

Frightningale repeated:  
"Sing, dance or rhyme,  
Or you'll be frozen in no time!"

The villain was ready to whip more people, but Ladybug and Chat Noir were too close on her trail. Ladybug snagged her right arm with her yo-yo.

"I thought you were a fan of Cat Noir and me, Nightingale; so you should know that we _fight_ villains!" said Ladybug.

Frightningale pulled on the yo-yo line and got enough slack to free her arm.

"I'm Frightningale from here on out,  
Forever and ever, there's no doubt!  
And if you stand in my way,  
There'll be a price to pay!"

"You have to come 'round! Don't let negative emotions take you over!" said Ladybug.

Ladybug shot her yo-yo at Frightningale, but she caught it midair and spun the end of it as a weapon for herself.

"Song and dance will make the world a better place.  
Don't agree with me? Ha! Then you're a disgrace!"

Frightningale tried to hit Ladybug with her own yo-yo. Ladybug dodged and they ended up back on the ground. Ladybug caught the yo-yo back.

"I can help you if you give me your akuma!"

"I won't let you take my akuma away.  
I like the new me, and I'm here to _stay_!"

Frightningale charged Ladybug, but she was tripped by Chat Noir's staff.

"Do you mind if _I_ join the dance?" asked Chat.

Frightningale leapt back up onto the roof of the Grand Palais.

"You're like all the others; but you can't silence me!  
I'm just trying to make the world better, can't you see?"

A message from Hawk Moth reminded Frightningale that she was only to strike Ladybug and not Chat Noir.

"Do you really think the two of you  
Can win this battle through and through?"

"Two is always better than one!" said Ladybug. "Chat Noir, I'll take the left."

"I'm on it!" said Chat Noir.

A rooftop battle ensued with Chat Noir and Ladybug trying to hit Frightningale from both sides. An expert in choreography, Frightningale seemed able to use their every move against them. Ladybug's yo-yo string caught Chat's staff.

"Hey, look out!"

"Whoops! Sorry, M'Lady!"

Their second attempt went even worse. Frightningale dodged and Ladybug's yo-yo entangled Chat Noir and she was forced to catch him. They were off-balance and Frightningale took the opportunity to use her whip. Ladybug was struck – Chat Noir was untouched.

Frightningale laughed and said:  
"Welcome to my musical show.  
I hope it will be your fatal blow!"

Ladybug saw the pink glow around herself. She wasn't sure about Chat, and when he started to move she held him back.

"Wait, we have to stay here and dance, or we'll be frozen..."

The pink shell started to creep up Ladybug's arm, and she knew had to complete a rhyme or be petrified.

"...without a chance!"

The shell withdrew. Ladybug began to dance in place.

"You're right, we have to rhyme... or do I? She didn't get me."

Chat paused as Ladybug had, to see if the curse was on him. He was relieved to find it wasn't.

Chat leaped at Frightningale and began to battle hand to hand. Frightningale used the handle of the whip to parry rather than striking with the whip itself. With that handicap, she was no match for him. As she tried to leap away, Chat struck her hand and sent the akumatized object flying.

"Get it, Ladybug!" Chat shouted.

Ladybug forgot the curse in the heat of the moment. She sent her yo-yo out and caught the microphone whip. She pulled it to herself triumphantly, grabbed it in both hands to break it, and froze into a pink statue for moving without dancing. The shell coated the microphone, too, rendering it unbreakable.

"Ladybug!" shouted Chat Noir.

Frightningale took the opportunity to leap away from roof to roof.

"I can't convert more people today  
So pardon me if I run away!"

Chat Noir jumped back to the frozen Ladybug. He stared at her in horror.

"M'Lady, I'm so sorry!"

Paralyzed inside the pink shell, Ladybug had no way to respond.


	3. Shell Game

Chat Noir hugged the Ladybug statue, blinking back tears.

What could he do for her? There was only one way to fix magical damage like this: the "Miraculous Ladybug" cure. That required her Miraculous earrings, to wish for a Lucky Charm object to throw into the air.

If everything on her had been converted to solid plastic then there was no hope. If it was a coating... that would be a different story. Even if Ladybug had suffocated inside, she could be brought back to life as long as the earrings could be broken out.

Chat Noir brought his baton down hard on the whip handle held between Ladybug's hands. The baton bounced off. Berserk with grief and rage, he smashed it again and again. Finally there was a tiny crack in the coating and a bit of the blue and white spiral pattern of the handle was visible.

"Yes! It's not all solid plastic!" said Chat Noir aloud. "Cataclysm!"

He touched Ladybug's arm, willing the destruction to remove the hard shell from around her body. The plastic crumbled away at once.

"Chat! What..." said Ladybug. That was good enough to pass the rhyming test, but in recovering her balance she took a tiny step. A shiny pink shell instantly covered her again.

Chat Noir felt a burst of hope. Ladybug was alive! He would have to be more careful next time, and be ready to dance with her the moment she was free. But first he had to detransform and feed Plagg.

* * *

Nathalie hurried out of the building holding the tablet with the live feed of Gabriel. She ran to Chat Noir with the tablet.

"Son, let me help you," said Gabriel from the screen. "We can take your partner back to the mansion. It would be easier to work on curing her there. Hawk Moth might try to collect her to get her Miraculous if you stay out in the open."

"All right, Father," said Chat Noir. "I'm going to detransform in a minute and I'll need Camembert to fuel up again. I still don't have my regular clothes, just the costume I put on for the video. Could you have someone bring my clothes, and Marinette's? I don't want to leave her here unguarded."

Gabriel called Gustav, the driver, to get the clothes and pick them up: Adrien, Nathalie, and the petrified Ladybug.

"We should get Marinette's parents, too," said Gabriel. "They need to know what has happened to their daughter."

"Marinette didn't want her parents at the mansion," said Adrien,

"That was before she was transformed – this is a different situation," said Gabriel. "Family should be together in a time of crisis."

Adrien had to agree that it made sense. There was a trickle of uneasiness in the back of his mind about putting everything Hawk Moth wanted in one place, but he pushed it aside. The Agreste Mansion security systems would keep the villains out for a while, at least.

* * *

They set up in the foyer of the Agreste Mansion. This was the black-and-white marble entry room with the stairs leading to the second floor. Sabine Cheng and Tom Dupain watched anxiously from the side of the room. Gabriel Agreste was standing close to them, with Nathalie by his side.

"Please help Marinette," said Sabine. Tom nodded in agreement.

"I'll seal off the doors and windows with our security panels to make sure we are not disturbed," said Gabriel.

Adrien was ready. He had changed back to his normal clothes, fed Plagg, and transformed again.

"This time, when I break the shell around Ladybug, I'll dance with her," said Chat Noir. "We'll break the akumatized object. That will stop Frightningale, wherever she's run off to. Then we'll do a Lucky Charm and toss the object into the air for the cure. That will fix everyone, including Ladybug. Last step will be to purify the akuma so it doesn't reproduce."

"Cataclysm!" said Chat, touching Ladybug. The plastic shell was gone again. Chat caught her in his arms and began to dance a waltz. The akumatized microphone whip slipped to the floor.

Frightningale leaped over the railing on the upper floor where Hawk Moth had hidden her. She landed behind Ladybug and snatched off her earrings. Then she gave a pirouette kick at Ladybug, who was knocked to the ground and froze again just as she detransformed. By the time Chat Noir recovered from his surprise and shock, Frightningale had her weapon back in hand.

Frightningale said,  
"Sorry, Kitty, you've been had.  
You're in a trap set by your dad!  
He's a villain of great fame.  
Hawk Moth is his secret name!"

"You're Hawk Moth! You monster!" said Chat Noir.

He had to dodge Frightningale's whip attacks. Restrictions on cursing him seemed to have been lifted.

"I have a good reason," said Gabriel. "To save your mother."

"What do you want with us?" demanded Tom. "Why bring us here?"

"I need to transfer a curse from Emilie onto Marinette, and it will be a lot easier if I make her whole family disappear," said Gabriel. "Dark wings... ooof!"

Sabine darted in front of Gabriel and felled him with a martial arts kick to the stomach that knocked the wind out of him.

Frightningale tossed the earrings and said:  
"Here, Nathalie!  
These rings are free!"

Nathalie put on the earrings and said, "Spots on!"

Nothing happened, because she didn't invoke the kwami Tikki by name. (A familiar holder can omit the name sometimes, but not someone claiming the Miraculous as a new holder.)

Chat by now had been struck with the whip and had a pink aura. He started dancing in place.

Chat accused Nathalie:  
"You work for Hawk Moth: you're a spy,  
And your kindness was a lie!"

"I've been working for him for months, covering for him," said Nathalie. "Being a partner in crime pays better than being an assistant."

Annoyed by hearing prose, Frightningale struck Nathalie with the whip and gave her a pink aura, forcing her to dance in place. She also whipped Sabine, Tom, and even Gabriel while she was at it (his prose answer had broken her loyalty).

Gabriel tried to get to his feet. He failed to make it like a dance, and he froze.

Frightningale said:  
"Sing, dance or rhyme,  
Or you'll be frozen in no time!"

Chat Noir said:  
"You will see I'm in my grooves  
When I show you my fighting dance moves!"

Adrien had some training in capoeira, the Brazilian dancing martial arts style. He flipped gracefully from his hands to his feet, driving into Frightningale and making her draw back. She came close enough to Tom for the big man to grab her in a bear hug from behind. He froze, but she was pinned in his unbreakable grip.

Chat smashed the microphone Frightningale held with a graceful dancing kick. The purple akuma butterfly fluttered out. Purification could be left for later. It wouldn't escape easily with the doors and windows sealed. A purple cloud of magic enveloped Frightningale, and she became Clara Nightingale, still caught in Tom's grip.

It was a little difficult to do everything with rhymes and dance, but they managed to get the earrings back from Nathalie, for Sabine to put them on, for her to use an incantation told her by Chat Noir ("Normal form be gone / Tikki, spots on!"), and another ("Fight the harm / Lucky Charm!"), and to throw the resulting polka-dotted rubber ball into the air ("We'll end with a hug / Miraculous Ladybug!").

* * *

Everyone was free. Gabriel was swiftly overpowered and his Miraculous taken away. Marinette reclaimed the earrings and purified the akuma. They called the police to arrest Gabriel and Nathalie. (Gustav, it seemed, had been kept in the dark about the criminal doings of his boss).

"That was awful," said Marinette. "It seemed I was paralyzed for hours, and I would get free for an instant only to get stuck again."

"Still want to give up being Ladybug?" asked Adrien.

"With the master villain gone it might not be so bad," said Marinette. "What do you think?"

"I'd like to stay Chat Noir," said Adrien.

"Clara, it looks like we can do that video for you after all," Marinette said. "Right, Adrien?"

"Yes, M'Lady... Princess."

Clara said:  
"Thank you, thank you, heroic pair,  
I'm glad that you have shown you care."

(In gratitude to Ladybug and Chat Noir for saving his daughter, the Mayor dropped all the legalities and let the video proceed. Clara added some lines to the beginning of the song: "In the daytime, I'm Marinette..." – and Marinette didn't mind because her identity was public now and it might bring her good publicity.)

"Adrien, you don't have a home now, with your father and his assistant gone to jail," said Sabine. "Why don't you stay with us?"

"You can give us tips on how to deal with the press," said Tom.

"I'd love to," said Adrien.

"I'd love for you to," said Marinette, blushing.

The End


End file.
